A bigger field for fish farming in coastal waters

Published 5:30 am, Monday, July 11, 2011

Darryl Brown, left, and his son, Levi, hold Pacific white shrimp they raise in Fowler, Ind. The government wants to open up federal coastal waters to fish and shellfish farms.

Darryl Brown, left, and his son, Levi, hold Pacific white shrimp they raise in Fowler, Ind. The government wants to open up federal coastal waters to fish and shellfish farms.

Photo: Rick Callahan:, Associated Press

A bigger field for fish farming in coastal waters

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The federal government is moving to open up large swaths of coastal waters to fish farming for the first time in an effort to decrease Americans' dependence on imports and satisfy their growing appetite for seafood.

While federal officials and fish farmers say the new push will create jobs and help allay concerns about importing seafood from countries with weak environmental regulations, conservationists worry that expanding fish farms far offshore will threaten the oceans' health.

More than four-fifths of the fish, clams, oysters and other seafood Americans ate in 2009 was imported, according to the latest figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Those imports have soared in the past decade as U.S. production lagged while other nations ramped up their sea farming. American seafood consumption, meanwhile, grew from just over 4 billion pounds in 1999 to nearly 5 billion pounds in 2009.

To encourage domestic production, the NOAA and the Commerce Department issued new policies last month intended to open up federal waters to fish and shellfish farms. Those waters start three miles offshore in most states and extend out to 200 miles. Most U.S. marine fish and shellfish farms are now in state waters close to shore, and none exist in federal waters.

Michael Rubino, who heads NOAA's aquaculture program, said expanding the area where fish farming is allowed will boost production, create new jobs and help ease concerns that some imported seafood may be tainted with industrial wastes.

Aquaculture now accounts for half of the world's seafood production. But in 2009, less than 2 percent of the seafood that ended up grilled, baked or fried on American tables was grown along U.S. coasts or in inland saltwater ponds.

Rubino said the new policies should help cut the nation's seafood trade deficit, which reached $10.7 billion last year, and come as the Food and Drug Administration is urging people to eat more heart-healthy seafood.

The new policies establish a framework for allowing marine aquaculture to expand into federal waters. But before that can happen, the nation's eight regional fish management councils must create aquaculture plans for their regions, NOAA spokeswoman Connie Barclay said. Then federal regulators will craft more specific rules for the farms, with protections for wild species and coastal and ocean ecosystems.

Proposals are in the works to adapt unused oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf for fish farming.

Environmental groups fear the new policies will lead to big factory-style fish farms off U.S. shores. Sebastian Troeng, vice president for marine conservation with Conservation International, said raising salmon, other fish and shrimp requires large amounts of feed made from smaller ocean fish, taking food away from declining wild fish populations.

The new federal initiative includes a push for more research to reduce marine aquaculture's environmental impact and expand inland production.